Does Racism Exist for Middle-Upper/Upper Class Americans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Education, assimilation, speaking a common language, and wealth are the only things that matter anymore. If you are not actively attempting to improve each of these conditions in your lives, you are only making excuses.

You can only play the race card so many times. Eventually, no one is going to care what happened centuries or even just decades ago.

Pull up your pants and get a job.

I truly hope that you're just a troll trying to stir up trouble.

I was born and raised in the US, speak impeccable English, attended an elite liberal arts college and a top ten law school. I have money, too. All of that hasn't shielded me from racism, I'm sorry. I truly thought that it would, but I entered the work force and was dismayed to find that education, assimilation, speaking a common language and wealth aren't in fact enough. Like you, I thought that it would be. You're lucky you haven't had to learn that nasty lesson yourself; my guess is that you enjoy the privilege of being white. But I will admit that there are ignorant people of all ethnicities who thing the same way that you do.

If you have the nerve to tell someone in person what you just wrote her, do so. Ask a friend, acquaintance or colleague of color to explain racism to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were discussing this--he thinks not, I do. But, in trying to convince him, I had few examples on which to draw. Am I wrong? He says that the fact that we have an Af Am president shows that the vast majority of Americans are not racist anymore. What do you think? Can you link any recent studies about this one way or the other?

Thank you.

The better question would be "do racism and sexism exist in any class in America"? Not only yes, but Hell yes, and they always will. We are not a color- or gender-blind country and probably will never be so. Well, maybe when there are no more pure-bred WASPs and that will take hundreds of years. Is your husband a comedian?

Maybe sooner than that. Perhaps when Hispanics become the majority in the US and the Chinese the majority in the world.

At 1,3 billion in 2008 The Chinese are already the majority population in the world. It will be a long time before Hispanics take over and become the majority in America.

[Anonymous]

DH is white ad thinks that growing up poor put him at a greater disadvantage than growing up white. He believes that the wealthy black children had more privileges and opportunities than he did (travel, internships, private schools). He is very bitter when we have discussions about race because he thinks that the "white privilege" concept is flawed by not taking into account wealth and class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were discussing this--he thinks not, I do. But, in trying to convince him, I had few examples on which to draw. Am I wrong? He says that the fact that we have an Af Am president shows that the vast majority of Americans are not racist anymore. What do you think? Can you link any recent studies about this one way or the other?

Thank you.

The better question would be "do racism and sexism exist in any class in America"? Not only yes, but Hell yes, and they always will. We are not a color- or gender-blind country and probably will never be so. Well, maybe when there are no more pure-bred WASPs and that will take hundreds of years. Is your husband a comedian?

Maybe sooner than that. Perhaps when Hispanics become the majority in the US and the Chinese the majority in the world.

Hispanics becoming the majority ethnic group in the United States will not end white privilege. Look to history to prove that having a lower population does not necessarily mean that you will not retain the power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is white ad thinks that growing up poor put him at a greater disadvantage than growing up white. He believes that the wealthy black children had more privileges and opportunities than he did (travel, internships, private schools). He is very bitter when we have discussions about race because he thinks that the "white privilege" concept is flawed by not taking into account wealth and class.

I can understand his frustration, but to clarify - "white privilege" doesn't mean that white people have it better than everyone else. It means that a white person has certain advantages given to him as a result of his race that someone else similarly situated doesn't have. Your husband probably had advantages over a black person similarly situated to him that were attributed to white privilege.

Maybe those upper class black kids did have opportunities that your husband didn't have. But the upper class white kids had opportunities that those upper class black kids didn't have, regardless of education or finances.

Class privilege is also a big problem - it's not a competition to see who has it worse. Rich black people have more opportunities than poor black people, same for white people. My parents struggled financially while I was growing up, and even though I went to college on financial aid, the wealthier students (and there were many of them) had opportunities that I didn't have - for example, they could take unpaid internships in New York to pad their resumes while my parents certainly couldn't afford to support me like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were discussing this--he thinks not, I do. But, in trying to convince him, I had few examples on which to draw. Am I wrong? He says that the fact that we have an Af Am president shows that the vast majority of Americans are not racist anymore. What do you think? Can you link any recent studies about this one way or the other?

Thank you.

The better question would be "do racism and sexism exist in any class in America"? Not only yes, but Hell yes, and they always will. We are not a color- or gender-blind country and probably will never be so. Well, maybe when there are no more pure-bred WASPs and that will take hundreds of years. Is your husband a comedian?

Maybe sooner than that. Perhaps when Hispanics become the majority in the US and the Chinese the majority in the world.

Hispanics becoming the majority ethnic group in the United States will not end white privilege. Look to history to prove that having a lower population does not necessarily mean that you will not retain the power.

Yes but will that be true for the US? They came here, a country where people from all over the world came for a new and better life, as free people not dehumanized or displaced through slavery. Also, this is not their native land which had been taken over by force, coercion, trickery or theft or by those with more advanced technologies or by those who brought diseases that wiped out their people. They will be able to freely elect representatives to Congress and other seats of power. And they will benefit from affirmative action and advance through education to eventually take on the majority of leadership positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

To be fair Obama's dad is not American there is some confusion about his birth certificate and mother was a Muslim at one point and his father was a Muslim.

No one thinks that Harold Ford or Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Kendrick Meek etc weren't born in the US or are Muslims.

[Anonymous]

Af-Americans will continue to complain for the rest of eternity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Af-Americans will continue to complain for the rest of eternity.

Legacy of crimes against humanity sins by others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were discussing this--he thinks not, I do. But, in trying to convince him, I had few examples on which to draw. Am I wrong? He says that the fact that we have an Af Am president shows that the vast majority of Americans are not racist anymore. What do you think? Can you link any recent studies about this one way or the other?

Thank you.

The better question would be "do racism and sexism exist in any class in America"? Not only yes, but Hell yes, and they always will. We are not a color- or gender-blind country and probably will never be so. Well, maybe when there are no more pure-bred WASPs and that will take hundreds of years. Is your husband a comedian?

Maybe sooner than that. Perhaps when Hispanics become the majority in the US and the Chinese the majority in the world.

At 1,3 billion in 2008 The Chinese are already the majority population in the world. It will be a long time before Hispanics take over and become the majority in America.

Oh my, not as long as you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

To be fair Obama's dad is not American there is some confusion about his birth certificate and mother was a Muslim at one point and his father was a Muslim.

No one thinks that Harold Ford or Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Kendrick Meek etc weren't born in the US or are Muslims.

His mom is from the United States - he could've been born on MARS and he would still be a U.S. citizen. Even Hawai'i passed a law allowing the hospital to not have to respond to the queries from crazies about his birth certificate. The only folks confused about his birth certificate are folks who do not believe in a reality-based society.

And, regardless of whether his mother was once a Muslim, what does it matter? There is NOTHING in the Constitution precluding a Muslim from being president of the United States. Moreover, the president spent years attending a UCC church in Chicago. Was that all for show?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

To be fair Obama's dad is not American there is some confusion about his birth certificate and mother was a Muslim at one point and his father was a Muslim.

No one thinks that Harold Ford or Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Kendrick Meek etc weren't born in the US or are Muslims.

His mom is from the United States - he could've been born on MARS and he would still be a U.S. citizen. Even Hawai'i passed a law allowing the hospital to not have to respond to the queries from crazies about his birth certificate. The only folks confused about his birth certificate are folks who do not believe in a reality-based society.

And, regardless of whether his mother was once a Muslim, what does it matter? There is NOTHING in the Constitution precluding a Muslim from being president of the United States. Moreover, the president spent years attending a UCC church in Chicago. Was that all for show?

Then why was there question about John McCain being born in Panama. The law states that only US born citizens can be President. The unwritten rule is there is a pass for those of military or government families. Gwyneth Paltrow is the first to say that her kids couldn't be president because they were born in London.

I think the question about Obama's birth certificate is because many African countries will issue one for foreign born children and not state they were foreign born. A good friend of mine is married to an African and they have birth certificates, from his home country, that state the kids were born there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will be kind and refrain from calling your husband ignorant, but the title of this thread is truly a question that could be asked in this nation by a white person who has the privilege of saying racism doesn't exist because HE never encounters it.

This. If you don't experience it, it doesn't exist.

Sort of like the degradation in the WIC thread, huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

To be fair Obama's dad is not American there is some confusion about his birth certificate and mother was a Muslim at one point and his father was a Muslim.

No one thinks that Harold Ford or Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Kendrick Meek etc weren't born in the US or are Muslims.

What kind of crazy logic is this?

1. What does it matter if his mother was a muslim at one point?
2. Are you saying that because some black politicians are accepted as Americans, that Obama birthers are therefore not racist? That's just weak logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were discussing this--he thinks not, I do. But, in trying to convince him, I had few examples on which to draw. Am I wrong? He says that the fact that we have an Af Am president shows that the vast majority of Americans are not racist anymore. What do you think? Can you link any recent studies about this one way or the other?

Thank you.

The better question would be "do racism and sexism exist in any class in America"? Not only yes, but Hell yes, and they always will. We are not a color- or gender-blind country and probably will never be so. Well, maybe when there are no more pure-bred WASPs and that will take hundreds of years. Is your husband a comedian?

Maybe sooner than that. Perhaps when Hispanics become the majority in the US and the Chinese the majority in the world.

Hispanics becoming the majority ethnic group in the United States will not end white privilege. Look to history to prove that having a lower population does not necessarily mean that you will not retain the power.

Yes but will that be true for the US? They came here, a country where people from all over the world came for a new and better life, as free people not dehumanized or displaced through slavery. Also, this is not their native land which had been taken over by force, coercion, trickery or theft or by those with more advanced technologies or by those who brought diseases that wiped out their people. They will be able to freely elect representatives to Congress and other seats of power. And they will benefit from affirmative action and advance through education to eventually take on the majority of leadership positions.

Apparently you are not familiar with how Mexico lost California/New Mexico/West Coast.